Maverick

Micah Sloane knows almost everything there is to know about Risa Clay, including the vicious betrayal she endured years ago and the distrust she’s harbored ever since. The only way for the Elite Ops agent to uncover an assassin—and banish the ghosts of his own dark past—is to use Risa as bait. But nothing has prepared him for her disarming blend of innocence and sensuality, or for his overwhelming need to protect her…

DESIRE CAN BE A DEADLY DISTRACTION

Risa has spent six years rebuilding her life. And now, to save it, she must pose as Micah’s lover and draw a killer into the open. It’s a risky plan—especially with a man as powerfully seductive as Micah. But, as their charade becomes reality, Risa realizes the greatest danger may lie in losing her heart forever…

He paused before heading to the table. Standing at one of the support columns several feet from the table where Risa was now taking her seat, he let himself draw in perhaps the final moments where he would see her expression unguarded.

There was fear in her eyes, her body was stiff with that fear, her gaze shadowed with it.

She looked around the room, glanced over him, and Micah waited.

Her gaze came back and passed by him again, then again. On the third pass she lingered as he continued to watch her, allowing his gaze to memorize those features just before her eyes met his.

A jolt of power flashed through him. Her light blue eyes flickered with interest, fear, interest, as though she wasn't certain which she should feel.

He let his gaze continue to hold hers, let his mind reach out to her, soothe her, ease her. He used his eyes rather than his expression to calm the fear that he knew would be rising within her.

Micah knew the power of a look. When two people touched from across a distance, that touch could be frightening, wary or a stroke of gentleness. He stroked her gently. He never let his eyes dip below her chin, rather, he let himself take in every nuance of expression, every shift of each facial motion, the flicker of her lashes, the shadows in her eyes, the tension in her small body.

She was like a bird ready to fly. Poised at the edge of her seat, her body stiff and prepared to run.

She stroked the delicate line of her jaw with his gaze then came back to her eyes. He let her inside him, let her see into the soul the parts of him that was just a man, just a lover willing touch her in gentleness. He let her see, there was nothing to fear if she let him close to her.

Eyes were more than the windows to the soul. They could be liars. Micah was a consummate liar. But as he stared into her wary gaze, he found himself wishing he could be more. That he could be the man she needed in truth, rather than in deception.

She blinked, and he saw the minute softening in her eyes. It wasn't surrender, it wasn't desire, exactly. It was a hint of interest mixed with caution and resolution. She had made a decision. Now, he wondered what that decision was.

He moved forward slowly, holding her gaze, too aware of the eyes that were watching. There were four members of the Durango team here along with their wives. Clint and Morganna, Reno and Raven, Kell and Emily, and Ian and Kira who spent part of the year in Atlanta, or wherever they were needed with team. The other part they spent at their home in Texas.. Macey was currently doing something somewhere with his fiancée, Emerson.

The couples pretended to be unaware of the tension that sizzled across the distance between him and the very delectable Risa Clay. He saw concern in their gazes though, protectiveness in the shifts of their bodies.

This woman was their friend, and one they worried about. They were as uncertain about this mission as Noah was, and he understood that concern. What they didn't know was that the wary little creature watching him so closely had nothing to fear from him.